This Post is Not About Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston is dead. In the news, here in America, at this moment, her funeral is nearly impossible to miss. For the benefit of fans, friends, family, or others, who were looking for commentary on her funeral, here's a link:

• "Whitney Houston memorial service begins in New Jersey"
  Los Angeles Times (February 18, 2012)

Death Happens

Like the fellow said:

"...in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."
(Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy (November 13, 1789))

I think Franklin had a point: one of the few things that any of us can count on is that, sooner or later, we'll die. I'm not trying to be morbid: just being realistic.

Death isn't the end of our existence. Which can be good news, or bad news. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 988-1014) I've been over that before. (August 27, 2011)

I've posted about eschatological stuff before. Fairly recently. (February 15, 2012; February 8, 2012) "Eschatological" is a fancy way of saying 'about last things.' sort of. Eschatology comes into English from Greek, and that's another topic. Here's a definition, with some links to parts of the Catechism:

"ESCHATOLOGY: From the Greek word eschaton, meaning 'last.' Eschatology refers to the area of Christian faith which is concerned about "the last things,' and the coming of Jesus on 'the last day': our human destiny, death, judgment, resurrection of the body, heaven, purgatory, and hell--all of which are contained in the final articles of the Creed (1001, 1020-1050; cf. 2771). "
(Glossary, Catechism of the Catholic Church)

Breaking the list of last things out, I get:

• Death
• Judgment
• Resurrection of the body
• Heaven
• Purgatory
• Hell

As for which final destination any of us gets? I've been over the difference between being judgmental, and having good judgment, before:

• "Having Good Judgment isn't Being Judgmental"
  (October 12, 2011)

As for the possibility that suicide is involved in Whitney Houston's death: suicide is a very personal topic for me, and I've been over that before, too. (January 28, 2009) Anyway, passing judgment on others, in this context, is pretty high on the 'no-no' list: (Matthew 7:1-5; Luke 6:37-38, 41-42; Romans 2:1-11; and see footnote 10 in Luke:6)

Posts about last things:

• "An Eternal Life I can Live With"
  (August 27, 2011)
• "Hell, Heaven, Character, and Culture"
  (June 23, 2011)
• "Living as if God Matters"
  (June 12, 2011)
• "Thinking About Osama bin Laden, and What Father Lombardi Said"
  (May 2, 2011)
• "God Knows, I Don't: And That's Okay"
  (November 14, 2010)